


Working Late

by ojmygod



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 20:38:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18431663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ojmygod/pseuds/ojmygod
Summary: Baekhyun had been working late recently. Chanyeol didn't mind. Except he did, and he missed his boyfriend, and like any sane person, he had doubts about Baekhyun's so called all nighters.





	Working Late

**Author's Note:**

> HI!! i'm alive! i haven't written in so long!!   
> what can i say except ~ d e p r e s s i o n ~  
> but i''m back with some chanbaek angst bc why not delve into a new pairing, and also i honestly have no memory of writing this, it just appeared almost completely finished in my docs, and i felt like sharing my pain so here we go! strap up babies we're in for some angst yo

Baekhyun had been working late recently.

 

Chanyeol didn’t mind. Not really. After all, Baekhyun was a lawyer, and a damn good one at that. Sometimes it was a requirement to stay late. Sometimes he didn’t make it home at all, and that was fine. It was fine, because Chanyeol had his own life, and he could take care of himself. He cooked his own dinner (microwavable), set his own alarms (late), cleaned up the cluttered apartment (badly). He could manage without Baekhyun, and he definitely respected that his boyfriend probably had a lot on his plate currently, and that he just didn’t have the time to come home every night.

 

Didn’t mean that Chanyeol didn’t miss him though. 

 

Truthfully, Chanyeol missed his dumb boyfriend a lot. He missed their stupid little dates, their playful banter, their cuddle sessions, the way Baekhyun would wake him up in the morning. He missed the way Baekhyun would pester him to play games with him, how every time they woke up on a saturday they could spend hours just kissing and talking. Chanyeol just missed his fucking boyfriend. It wasn’t the same, sleeping in that big bed when it was empty.

 

And Chanyeol wasn’t stupid. He had doubts. Of course he did, who wouldn’t? His boyfriend of four years suddenly started working late  _ all the time _ , and once he finally did come home, there was no time for talking, sex, or even cuddling. At first Chanyeol dismissed those doubts. He had been sure that Baekhyun was in fact just taking his work very seriously, that he really did stay at the office pulling all nighters, and he was proud of his boyfriend. Truly.

 

But then he came home reeking of someone else's perfume.

 

Baekhyun had been late again that night. Nothing unusual. He’d told Chanyeol not to wait up, told him to go ahead and eat without him, but it was friday, and Chanyeol wanted to help his boyfriend relax a bit after a taxing work week. So he ordered food, dimmed the lights, put on some animated movie Baekhyun loved, and waited for him to come home.

 

It was way past midnight when Baekhyun finally stumbled through the front door. The food had gone cold, and Chanyeol was halfway through some other film when he saw the first glimpse of his boyfriend that day. Chanyeol had gotten up with a smile on his face, faltering slightly when Baekhyun wouldn’t meet his gaze, but nonetheless moved in to embrace his lover, placing a gentle kiss on the top of his head. That’s when he smelt it.

 

‘Fancy’ was the first word that popped into his head. Then came the dread. Chanyeol felt his stomach plummet where he stood, feet planted firmly in the hallway, arms wrapped around his boyfriend’s waist, nose buried in hair that smelt so strongly of a foreign perfume. He blinked away the tears gathering in his eyes, telling himself that it must be a misunderstanding, that Baekhyun had gotten himself a new perfume. At night. And used it before coming home, almost dead on his feat.

 

Chanyeol swallowed stubbornly against the lump in his throat, guiding Baekhyun to the couch, trying to make small talk. Baekhyun didn’t answer. Not verbally anyway. He shook his head when asked if he was hungry, nodded when asked if he was tired. Chanyeol tried to chuckle the same way he would have any other day, but it fell flat. Baekhyun didn’t notice, or if he did he didn’t comment on it. Chanyeol just watched as his boyfriend curled up on the other side of the couch and closed his eyes. Of course, Chanyeol couldn’t just leave him like that, no matter what. So he loosened Baekhyun’s tie, unbuttoned a few buttons of his shirt, and draped a blanket across him. He also moved in to kiss his cheek, but in a split moments decision, he decided to place his lips on his jaw instead, inhaling subtly. 

 

Yeah. Baekhyun would never use a perfume that musky.

 

Chanyeol leaned back slowly, blinked rapidly, fiddling with his boyfriend’s tie in his hands. He didn’t know what to do. Baekhyun wouldn’t talk or even acknowledge him, and he smelled so strongly of someone else. What possible explanation could he have. What scenario was there that ended with Chanyeol being wrong about this. In what world had Baekhyun not just come home after sleeping with someone else.

 

He felt a tear roll down his cheek and wiped it away quickly. He stared at Baekhyun for a while, observing, analyzing every single detail. His shirt was wrinkly and his hair messy, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. With a sudden lurch Chanyeol wondered why that was. Sure, he always looked like that whenever he’d been working late, but why was that? Was his hair really that messy just from Baekhyun running frustrated fingers through it, or was it because of someone else's fingers tangled in those raven locks.

 

Chanyeol’s gaze came to rest on Baekhyun’s neck. Baekhyun lay facing him, and maybe it was just a trick of light, but there seemed to be something out of the ordinary towards the back of his neck. Chanyeol could feel his heart race as he prayed to God that his eyes really were playing tricks on him. He almost didn’t lean over to check, but if he didn’t he’d regret it. He had to know. So he did lean over his boyfriend, and got another whiff of that godawful musky perfume. The living room was pretty dark, and he had to squint his eyes in order to observe the small, red mark behind his ear. Huh. 

 

Chanyeol raced to the bathroom and collapsed in front of the toilet, dry heaving like crazy. He seemed to be stuck in the motion of shaking his head, and it didn’t do his nausea any favors. He spent a good ten minutes on that bathroom floor, staring blankly at the tie still tightly clutched in his hand. After a while he stopped thinking. He let go of the tie, placing it shakily on the floor next to him. He stood up, and with the help of the walls, he managed to make his way into their bedroom. Collapsing on the bed, it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. 

 

______

 

The next morning was difficult to say the least. Chanyeol woke up alone, head pounding, heart hurting. He could hear the shower running, knowing that Baekhyun liked morning showers. Normally he might chuckle, might shake his head and tease the other for being strange. Hell he might have even joined him, but when Baekhyun stepped into their bedroom to get some clothes, Chanyeol pretended to be asleep. He peeked when he was sure Baekhyun wasn’t looking his way.

Strangely enough, Baekhyun seemed to be almost… shaking. If he didn’t know any better, Chanyeol might say he looked scared. He wondered if Baekhyun  _ knew _ that Chanyeol knew, and somehow that felt even worse than knowing and pretending like it didn’t happen. Shit, what if Baekhyun had been awake when Chanyeol ran to the bathroom. Even knowing that he’d done nothing wrong, he still couldn’t stand the thought of Baekhyun walking around feeling anxious over the inevitable confrontation. Chanyeol was just about to speak up when his eyes settled on the bruises forming on the bottom part of Baekhyun’s ribs. He felt sick, and closed his eyes, slipping back into unconsciousness after some time.

 

When he woke up for the second time, the sun was high in the sky, and Baekhyun was watching TV from the sound of it. 

 

Chanyeol realized that he couldn’t hide forever, even though he felt nowhere near ready enough to deal with this. He rubbed his eyes, still feeling groggy, but knowing that he had to get up and face the situation head on.

 

As he tiptoed into the living room, he could see the top of Baekhyun’s head propped up against the back of the couch. For a few fleeting moments he longed to walk up and embrace the man from behind, but then he remembered. He walked around to face Baekhyun straight on instead, and was greeted with a shaky smile.

 

“Hey.” mumbled Baekhyun, clearing his throat lightly when the sound didn’t come out right. He was obviously trying to seem like he hadn’t been crying. Unfortunately, Chanyeol could tell oh so easily whenever his boyfriend had been crying, and he almost felt sorry for him. But then he didn’t.

 

Chanyeol swallowed, flexing his jaw slightly. 

“Hey.”

He must have looked upset, because Baekhyun’s eyebrows creased in that familiar way that spoke of worry. God, Chanyeol wished he could just be angry at Baekhyun. He wished that Baekhyun didn’t look like a fucking kicked puppy whenever someone was angry.

 

“What’s wrong?” Baekhyun asked in a small voice, adam's apple bobbing up and down. Irrationally, Chanyeol wanted to kiss him. He also wanted to punch him.

 

Instead he sat down with a heavy thump, running his hands through his unruly morning hair a few times. Sighing heavily, he tried to clear his mind. He didn’t know what to say, how to phrase it. What did he want to hear? How did he ask without sounding hostile?  _ Should he avoid sounding hostile? _ After a few moments of tense silence, he decided to just ask.

 

“Did you cheat on me?” is what finally came out, voice rough but clear. He let the question hang for a few moments before his gaze finally landed on his boyfriend’s alarmed face. Chanyeol watched as his boyfriend floundered, he watched as his breathing started to pick up. His stomach felt heavier and heavier for every second Baekhyun stammered, trying to find an answer. 

 

He didn’t get the chance before Chanyeol’s emotions stormed up.

“You did, didn’t you?” he accused, face twitching with emotion. He tried to find something suitable to say, but nothing seemed to fit. 

“Why?” was what he settled on in the end, vision swimming. He wasn’t looking at Baekhyun anymore, but he didn’t have to, he could almost feel the guilt radiating off of him.

 

“I… Please, just let me explain, I didn’t… I-” Baekhyun stammered, finally getting some words out. He grew quiet, stopping himself from rambling, and it took him a few moments to continue. Chanyeol waited with patience he didn’t have. He just felt hurt.

 

“I’m sorry.” Baekhyun said, swallowing around the lump in his throat.

“It’s not what you think.”

Tears were running down his cheeks now, Chanyeol noted, having looked up at the apology. His gaze followed one of the tears, feeling a spark of remorse. Then his eyes landed on the hickey he could now see clearly.

 

He snapped his gaze back to meet his boyfriend’s eyes. He felt his nostrils flare, head filled with the images of a faceless man kissing down his boyfriend’s neck.

“You’d better start explaining soon then, because it looks pretty obvious from where i stand.” he said, voice a lot calmer than he expected.

 

Baekhyun had turned his gaze to the floor, tears now dripping freely onto the carpet. He sat there for a minute, breathing heavily through his mouth, nose most likely too clogged to let any air in. Chanyeol didn’t think about anything as he looked at Baekhyun. He didn’t allow himself to think, it would hurt too much. He just watched as his boyfriend wrung his hands and swallowed thickly before speaking up, gaze still firmly locked onto the floor.

 

“I meant to tell you weeks ago.” he began, voice cracking every other syllable.

“I just… didn’t know how to phrase it. I still don’t, if I’m honest. I don’t know how to talk about this without making it even worse. But I didn’t cheat on you, Chanyeol. I would never.” as he said this he looked up at Chanyeol with such fierce determination that he almost felt compelled to believe him. Almost.

 

Chanyeol said nothing and waited for Baekhyun to continue, still not thinking.

“I think I told you this a few weeks ago, but we got a new supervisor at work.” he said, pausing slightly to wet his lips.

“We got a new supervisor, who, uhm… He seemed to take a liking to me.” he mumbled carefully, only occasionally glancing up at Chanyeol just to make sure that he was paying attention. He heaved a deep sigh before continuing.

“He took a liking to me and my work, and seemed to always hang around. I didn’t know, I promise you that I didn’t know that he was interested like  _ that _ . I thought he just liked my work or something, since he kept asking me to stay late to help him with reports and stuff.” 

 

Baekhyun had been trying to get rid of his bad habit of vigorously biting his left thumb when he was nervous. It took Chanyeol about a minute to notice that Baekhyun had fallen back into the comfort of old habits. He ignored it, focusing instead on Baekhyun’s voice.

 

“At first, it was strictly work. Maybe a few conversations about mundane shit. But then, as the late nights got more and more frequent, he started buying me food, sitting next to me rather than in front of me. He started expecting me to stay late with him every single day. I told him several times that I had to get home to you, in fact, that was the only reason he ever really caved and let me to leave.” he explained, leg bouncing vigorously. Another one of Baekhyun’s nervous ticks.

 

Baekhyun glanced at Chanyeol quickly before looking right ahead, blinking profusely. He cleared his throat before continuing.

“He, uh… I guess he started getting a bit too… Touchy for my liking.” he mumbled, avoiding looking in Chanyeol’s direction.

“It wasn’t much, really. A hand on my shoulder, a pat on the back. But then yesterday, he offered to give me a massage.” he said, breathing a bit fast.

“I told him no thank you, told him I didn’t need one, that I just wanted to finish up and get home, but he insisted, and I couldn’t argue with my superior, so I didn’t fight it when he came up behind me and started massaging my shoulders.” he said in a rush, dropping his head in his hands.

 

Baekhyun took a couple of deep breaths before he continued. 

“Then he started playing with my hair, and at that point I told him to stop. I told him- I told him that I wasn’t really comfortable with that, but he just ignored me. When I tried to shimmy out of his reach he just-” breathing heavily, Baekhyun paused for a moment, swallowing several times.

“He grabbed me by my hair, and like, pressed up against me, and he started - he started kissing my neck, and I elbowed him, tried to get out, but he wouldn’t let go, and I couldn’t-” he choked on his own words, head hanging between his legs, back rising and falling way too quickly for Chanyeol’s comfort.

 

He felt absolutely sick, horrified, as he moved closer to his boyfriend, settling on the floor in front of him. He started murmuring reassurances, asking him if it was okay to touch. Baekhyun didn’t respond for a long minute, but eventually he got a sharp nod, and Chanyeol moved slowly, one hand moving to grip Baekhyun’s bicep, the other gently cupping his wet cheek. Chanyeol tried to figure out what to say, but he couldn’t come up with anything that could possibly fit. He settled for just scooting closer, making sure that his own breaths were audible, indicating that Baekhyun should follow along.

 

It took them awhile, and somehow Baekhyun had ended up on the floor as well, legs curled up in Chanyeol’s lap and back pressed against the couch. Chanyeol was fiddling with Baekhyun’s hand, thinking deeply when he was brought out by his musings by a soft whisper.

 

“Hm?” he sounded, looking up at Baekhyun’s closed eyes. God how could he ever think that this wonderful man would cheat on him. He felt like such an idiot.

 

Baekhyun licked his lips and tried again.

“I’m sorry.” 

He didn’t open his eyes, but a lone tear escaped anyway. 

 

Chanyeol’s face contorted, eyes watering like crazy.

“No.” he said, voice thick. “Don’t. I’m sorry for assuming things without talking to you. I shouldn’t have for a second thought that you would cheat on me.”

 

Baekhyun hummed lowly, eyes opening slightly to stare up at the ceiling. Chanyeol felt like a fucking idiot.

“‘s not your fault, I didn’t give you much to go on.” he said, slurring slightly. The sad smile he had on his face made Chanyeol’s heart ache, and he sighed heavily, moving to sit beside Baekhyun, gathering him up close to his side.

 

“No, but it was still wrong of me. I just… God I got so scared the moment I smelled his perfume on you, and when I saw the hickey, I just… I just spiralled down I guess.” he explained, nose pressed to Baekhyun’s hair, inhaling the clean and comforting scent of purely Baekhyun.

 

It was quiet for awhile, then in a small voice;

“What does the hickey look like?”

 

Somehow, this sentence caused surprised laughter to bubble out of Chanyeol, and he felt bad for exactly 0,5 seconds, because then Baekhyun joined in with a sleepy giggle, finally meeting Chanyeol’s gaze with his bloodshot eyes.

 

Chanyeol’s laughter died down pretty soon, and a fond gaze settled on Baekhyun’s frankly exhausted features.

“It’s, it’s a normal hickey babe, I don’t know what to tell you.” he confirmed, fiddling with Baekhyun’s ear. “But it’s nothing compared to the birthday hickey a put on you a few months ago.”

 

Baekhyun cracked a smile at that and buried his face in Chanyeol’s neck. Everything wasn’t fine, and they definitely needed to talk everything out. Chanyeol knew that he would probably have to force Baekhyun to quit and get a new job at a different firm. He knew that they needed to have a  _ long _ conversation about trust, and about all of the details.

But what the hell, it was saturday. Baekhyun hadn’t eaten in over 24 hours, and Chanyeol for one wanted a fucking nap.

 

So you really can’t blame them for curling up on the sofa together, safe in each other's company.

**Author's Note:**

> don't hate me for this pls i wanted to make chanyeol hurt originally, but then i couldn't bring myself to make baek actually cheat on him so i made him hurt as well, because all is fair and square in this land..  
> at least they didn't break up over it? chanyeol actually listened? so maybe i get a pass for making both hurt lol   
> anyways1!! i hope you enjoyed this! i aim to please you guys, so feel free to critique it if you feel like it! ily all and thanks to anyone who reads<33


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